


call me my love, day or night

by AlexiaBlackbriar13



Series: lexi’s season 8 fics [3]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Scene, Episode: s08 e04 Present Tense, F/M, Family Bonding, Family Feels, Light Angst, Phone Calls, The Monte Cristo Scene But With A Different Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2021-01-24 10:55:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21337093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexiaBlackbriar13/pseuds/AlexiaBlackbriar13
Summary: As Mia and William are enjoying their Monte Cristos, Oliver receives a phone call from somebody who is not Curtis. Somebody who is far, far more important.
Relationships: Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak
Series: lexi’s season 8 fics [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1538746
Comments: 53
Kudos: 509





	call me my love, day or night

**Author's Note:**

> OLIVER SHOULD HAVE CALLED FELICITY
> 
> IM BIG MAD ABOUT IT
> 
> i know emily isnt on the show anymore (but will be for 8x10!!!) but even a one sided phone call or even a text conversation would have been nice.... i mean, oliver and felicitys kids from the future showed up. "time travel" is not a valid excuse for you to not call your wife about it oliver lmao
> 
> hope you enjoy the fic ;)

After the day he’s just had, Oliver is exhausted, physically and emotionally. He and the rest of Team Arrow managed to take down Grant Wilson and his Deathstroke gang, hopefully creating an alteration in the timeline… and two of the members of his team were his son and daughter from the future. He’s still in shock over the fact that William and Mia from 2040 have been brought back to 2019, by the only being powerful enough to have done it, the Monitor.

Seeing them standing in front of him was overwhelming in itself, but talking to them, reconnecting with William and starting to get to know Mia has been… everything he’s ever wanted. He and William started bonding again straight away, picking up right where they left off when his son departed to live with his grandparents last spring. Mia has been more difficult; she’s stubborn and strong-willed and of course, just as blown away as he is by everything that’s happening and happened. She’s never met her father before; she’s been thrown in the deep end and she’s trying not to drown. Oliver understands her hesitance. He’s her father, but also a practical stranger to her, since he apparently dies when she’s a baby - in a few month's time.

All Oliver has ever dreamed of is retiring from his Green Arrow duties and living a safe, normal, happy life with Felicity and his kids. He knew that dream wouldn’t be possible when the Monitor showed up in his and Felicity’s cabin and recruited him to stop the oncoming crisis - when he learned that he’s going to die. Hearing from William and Mia that they never even got to grow up together in their version of the timeline is devastating to him though. William grew up with his grandparents completely separate from Mia, who was raised alone and sheltered by Felicity in the cabin, and he can’t imagine how difficult it must have been for all of his family.

His children are _magnificent_. Oliver is unspeakably proud of them. At first, he was worried when he learned that both Mia and William take after him in the vigilante department, but seeing William sitting in Felicity’s old chair and working her keyboards, and Mia out in the field with her amazing hand-to-hand skills and incredible archer has reassured him that they can handle themselves. His kids are brave and strong, and they're striving to save lives.

“I’m starving,” he hears Mia complain under her breath, as he unlocks his and Felicity’s old apartment’s front door.

It makes Oliver smile; she said it in exactly the same tone that her mother did, back when she was pregnant with her. He glances back to see that Mia is awkwardly hanging back behind her big brother, hands in her pockets. Her body language suggests that she still feels uncomfortable in their situation; she’s gravitating more towards William, a known quantity, and eyeing her father warily. He feels like he’s gained ground with her, though, especially after their conversations in the bunker and at her grandfather’s grave.

She’s softening to him slowly and beginning to let down her protective walls. Her appearance is so similar to that of her mother’s, but a lot of her mannerisms remind Oliver of how he used to act just after he arrived back from the island. He had those emotional barriers up when he first came home from Lian Yu, trying to hide his vulnerabilities because he felt as if Starling City was a mystery to him after his five years away. This version of Star City, in 2019, is literally new territory for Mia, and she’s on her guard.

“I’ll sort out something to eat,” Oliver informs her, stepping back to allow his children to enter the apartment first. William rushes in and is all too eager to kick his shoes off, jumping onto the couch to slouch on his back, releasing a tired sigh. He catches his daughter roll her eyes at her brother fondly. Hesitating for a brief second, he places his hand on her shoulder as she passes, relieved that she doesn’t flinch away. “Anything you fancy as a late-night snack?”

She shrugs, keeping her head downcast, but she doesn’t pull away. Mia waits until Oliver’s closed the door and armed it, so she can walk by his side to the kitchen. Sliding onto one of the breakfast bar stools, she watches him as he examines the meager contents of the fridge. Oliver managed to slip out to the supermarket that morning before the kids woke up to get groceries, but he was in a hurry and didn’t buy much.

“Surprise us!” William quips from the couch. “All the late-night snacks you used to make for Mom and I were always delicious. I could never pick a favorite because they were all so good!”

Oliver chuckles. When he sees Mia leaning on her elbow, looking over at her brother with a wistful expression, he begins to wonder if Felicity ever learned how to cook - or will ever learn how to cook, time travel and the use of tenses are… confusion - given that he’s not there to cook for her.

“What about you?” he asks her gently. “Any favorites that your mom made you?”

Mia shifts in her chair and offers tentatively, “Mom wasn’t really a Masterchef…”

Mia hasn’t spoken much about Felicity in the future. Neither has William. Oliver intends to ask them about her… when he scrounges up the courage. Given everything they’ve told him about the future so far - i.e. that it’s _awful_ \- he’s terrified of finding out his wife’s fate in all of it. He hopes that she’s happy and safe, although given what he’s learned, he doubts _happy_ is part of the equation...

“Oh, don’t we know it.” William rises from the couch to join them at the breakfast bar. “Dad, do you remember that one time she tried to make us spaghetti, but forgot about it entirely, and then the next thing we knew, the fire brigade were turning up?”

Oliver nods in amusement, at the same time Mia’s eyes widen in disbelief. “Mom can’t have been _that_ bad at cooking!” she insists.

The archer leaves the kids to bicker with one another playfully so he can start preparing some food for them, knowing that they both have to be hungry, given that they only ate sandwiches for lunch and didn’t have dinner. They’re adults, sure, but they’re his children and they’re staying in his apartment - he feels responsible for them. Oliver finally decides to make Monte Cristos with waffles, one of the first night time snacks he ever made for Felicity and William. Luckily he had the foresight to pick up the ingredients this morning.

Once he finishes making them, he serves them up onto separate plates, cut diagonally just how Felicity always insists sandwiches have to be cut. Mia and William are back to teasing each other about their own cooking skills, which from what Oliver hears, are just as abysmal as Felicity’s used to be.

“Special delivery,” he announces with a grin, pulling one of the plates out behind his back and pushing it on the counter in front of William.

His son’s eyes light up in delight. When Mia shoots him a weird look at the joyous “Oh!” he releases, William points down at the Monte Cristo and announces firmly, “Okay, this? Is the best late-night snack you can _ever_ have.”

Mia appears uncertain but also intrigued. She peers up at Oliver with startlingly green eyes, which gleam with interest but also skepticism. She doesn’t believe her brother, obviously.

“Want one?” Oliver asks, lips ticking up into a small smile.

Hitting him with a calculating look for a moment, Mia eventually allows herself to smile back. Oliver is going to treasure every single smile she aims at him. As a baby, Mia was all peals of laughter and giggles, constantly grinning at him, but adult Mia seems more reserved, and he gets the impression that she doesn’t smile all that often. He’s seen William receive a couple of affectionate smirks, but hasn’t seen her properly smile yet.

“Why not?” she replies softly, tilting her head.

Oliver places the second plate in front of her, a warm feeling spreading through him as he realizes that they have truly started to bridge the gap between them. William is beaming at the two of them, gleeful that his father and sister are connecting.

Before Oliver can begin to sort a Monte Cristo out for himself, his phone chimes. Swiping it up, he frowns at the unknown number on the screen. He’s been expecting a call from Curtis, but surely he would be using his personal cell to phone him? Taking a couple of steps away from the kids further into the kitchen, he picks up the call.

“Hello?” he says cautiously.

“I can’t believe I had to hear from _John_ and hack the bunker cameras to find out that you’re playing host to our adult children from the future who were spontaneously and unexpectedly transported back in time!” a very familiar voice that makes Oliver’s heart _stop_ begins to rant. His knees give out and he has to lunge to grab the counter to avoid crumpling to the floor from astonishment. Tears swell in his eyes. “I know you had a lot going on, but I thought you would have at least texted me, Oliver! I know it’s time travel and it’s weird as hell and you’ve been dealing with the kids, but I would have appreciated knowing!”

He swallows every form of response that comes to mind, trembling all over, and the lump in his throat making his voice croak as he chokes out, “I -”

“Oh no! Are you crying? I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m not mad!” Felicity frets.

And Oliver feels like he’s going to pass out. Because it’s _Felicity_. It’s his wife on the phone, calling him, talking to him, and he hasn’t heard her voice in _months_. Oliver feels like his lungs are being crushed by the weight that descends onto him. God, he misses her, and until now, he didn’t realize how much. But he feels like he’s being _crushed_. Felicity should be here, he should be with her, she should be getting the chance to meet their grown kids from the future - _they should all be together,_ and they’re not.

“Well… okay, I’m a little tiny bit mad! But you can’t blame me! You didn’t call me! John didn’t either, really, I had to hack the bunker CCTV and then text him asking what the frack was going on before he explained. It’s been a very tiring day, Mia’s got a cold so she’s cranky and struggling to latch, and because of that she’s hungry and constantly getting even more cranky, and dealing with a sick three-month-old is, trust me, _not_ fun -” Oliver covers his mouth with his hand to stifle his sobs. Felicity is rambling at him. He didn’t think he would ever, _ever_ get to hear his wife ramble adorably again. “- and I really, really miss you, and knowing you’re in Star City right now with our time-shifted kids and I’m here in the cabin with our baby girl who is also with you which is, let me tell you, trippy as hell considering she’s a grown woman and I thought I was looking at myself in a mirror at one point watching the CCTV - Oliver? Are you still there?”

“Give - give me a second, please,” he rasps shakily.

He needs to compose himself. He’s already a fucking mess, he knows it, and Mia and William are going to notice immediately if he doesn’t try and get his emotions under control. Lowering the phone, he holds it to his chest, inhaling and exhaling slowly, wincing as his breathing stutters. Clearing his throat, Oliver catches the attention of his kids, and they both raise their eyebrows at him questioningly. Mia’s gaze narrows at him sharply, and her eyes flicker towards his cell phone. She’s suspicious. But William is in the middle of telling her a story about how he and Felicity managed to maintain a secret Poptart stash in her make-up drawers, as they knew Oliver would never think of searching there for hidden junk food.

“Um, I need to take this…” he tells them, attempting to keep the wobble out of his voice. “I’ll be in my bedroom, if that’s okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” William agrees, and immediately goes back to telling his story.

Mia bobs her head in a nod, but Oliver can feel her piercing eyes observing him as he shuffles out of the kitchen and into his and Felicity’s old bedroom. Mia slept in here last night; the bed isn’t made and the duvet is crinkled. It’s what makes his tears finally spill over. Felicity never used to like making the bed either. Once he’s seated on the edge of the mattress and feels like he’s not going to suddenly collapse, Oliver brings his cell phone back to his ear.

“Felicity,” he breathes.

“Oh, hi! Sorry. I’m balancing my cell phone right now, Mia’s fussing and I need to pick her up - there we go. Mia, sweetheart, wanna say hi to Daddy?” He hears tinny murmured babbles through the speaker and emits another soft sob. “Oliver, what are you doing? Look at the screen, dummy," she laughs, and the fact she's teasing him makes his heart lurch. "I switched it to videocall.”

Oh no. Oh god. He is _not_ ready to see Felicity and baby Mia again. He might start having a breakdown. But Oliver can’t resist the urge to see their faces - he’s longed to be reunited with his wife and baby girl for months. When Oliver lowers his phone to look at the screen, he scrunches his face up to stop himself from bursting into noisy tears. Felicity has propped her own cell phone up against something so that she and Mia are completely in frame. She’s in the infant’s nursery and has their daughter propped up against her shoulder.

Her blonde hair falling down her shoulders in waves, Felicity looks the spitting image of the grown-up version of their daughter, her glasses slightly wonky on her nose because of the baby trying to grab them. She’s as beautiful as always, and it takes Oliver’s breath away. Her face is drawn with anxiety and Oliver can tell by the slight crinkle between her eyebrows that she’s had a rough day, but motherhood suits her. Baby Mia looks fatigued and grumpy; she’s already grown so much in the short time Oliver hasn’t seen her, and is wearing her favorite mint green bear onesie, chewing on the sleeves. She’s big now, and Oliver has no doubt that she’s a hefty weight on her mom’s shoulder. Despite her sickness, the baby is alert and staring at him through the screen, clearly recognizing him if the happy claps she gives are any indication.

“I promised that I would find you, didn’t I?” Felicity says, shooting him a triumphant smile. “It was pretty hard when you were on Earth 2, but I managed it. I sent John to look after you. And then when you got back here, it was so much easier to keep tabs - I’ve known where you’ve been every single second since you had to leave, Oliver.”

“Of course you have,” he laughs through his tears. “It’s… it’s so good to see you.” His voice breaks. “I miss you so much, Felicity. I love you and it’s - it’s killing me, being away from you.”

Felicity moves closer to the camera on her end and Oliver feels less like an overemotional idiot when he spots that she’s crying too. “I know, it’s killing me too. Not having you here, raising Mia alone… the cabin feels so empty without you. But then I wake up every morning to go and get Mia from the crib that you built for her and I remember that the only reason you’re not with us is that you’re on a mission to save the entire multiverse… that you’re trying to secure a safer, secure future for our family.” She plays with one of baby Mia’s tiny hands as she speaks, brushing back the infant’s hair, which is no longer a little blonde tuft but covers most of her head. Oliver wishes he were there with them right now so he could feel how soft it is. “Speaking of our family… are they there with you? In our apartment?”

He knows instantly that she’s talking about the adult versions of their kids from the future. “They’re in the kitchen eating Monte Cristos at the moment.” Oliver uses one hand to scrub at his eyes, hating how sore they are from his crying. “You said you’ve been watching the bunker CCTV - have you seen them?”

“Yes,” Felicity nods, switching Mia to her other hip and occupying the baby’s attention by passing her a teething ring. “William has to be - what? Thirty years old? It’s scary how much he looks like you. And he’s a tech genius, I gather, since he was working my monitors all night. And Mia is…” She trails off, her voice becoming strained with emotion. Felicity pauses, staring at the baby she’s carrying. “It’s so strange to think that this little nugget in my arms is going to grow up into that amazing, badass young woman.”

“She looks so like you,” Oliver stutters. “It’s _unreal_. And she’s an archer, like me, and she uses one of my old bows and quivers. She’s a spitfire out in the field, Felicity, she’s _incredible_. Nyssa trained her.”

“Nyssa?” Felicity turns back to him, confused. “Not… not you?”

Oliver falls silent for a moment. What should he tell her? Can he really admit to her that their kids from the future have told him that it’s true that he dies during the upcoming Crisis, that he’s never going to come home to her and their children? “Do you not get audio from the bunker and here?” Maybe Felicity has already listened to a recording of the conversation he and Mia had yesterday here in the apartment.

“I get audio from the bunker, but not the apartment. Why? What have they told you?”

So he is going to have to tell her. Jesus. He’s going to break her heart another time. Oliver doesn’t know if he can bring himself to hurt his wife again, but Felicity deserves the truth. “No, Mia isn’t trained by me,” he whispers. “Felicity, the future is… the future is terrible. Everything William and Mia have told me… everything that’s happened in their lives… it’s not what we wanted for them. They’ve suffered. They’re still suffering. I feel like the worst person in the world because I’m their father and yet I can’t even look at our kids without them looking back at me like I’m a ghost. Mia won’t… Mia won’t even really let me touch her.”

Felicity, the genius that she is, reads into his words and understands what he’s trying to say without actually saying it. “She doesn’t know you. She doesn’t remember you at all. You die and I raise her and William alone?” Oliver remains quiet, swallowing thickly. “Oh. I… I don’t get custody of Will back, do I?”

He shakes his head miserably.

“I understand why John said that I probably wouldn’t want to know about the future now,” she mumbles. “It’s depressing. But - you can change it, right? Now William, Mia, and Connor are there with you, they can tell you what’s going to happen and you can change the timeline? I mean, Barry does it all the time! And if you’re going to be making sure our kids have brighter futures, that _has_ to be okay, right!?” Her voice is wild and desperate. She wants a timeline change just as much as he does.

“I don’t know, Felicity,” he sighs. “Every instinct in me is screaming that we shouldn’t mess with time, but it looks like things are already being altered. Mia, William, and Connor being in 2019 is already making a giant impact. I’m just scared of what the consequences will be.”

There’s a knock at the bedroom door. It makes Oliver jolt in surprise and he hastily mutes and hides his phone by shoving it under his thigh, just in case baby Mia starts crying uncontrollably. Although he doesn’t answer that they can come in, the handle turns and the door cracks open, revealing curious green eyes peering through. Oliver tries to relax his tensed shoulders, but just ends up rolling them back painfully.

“Hey, Mia,” he says quickly. “Did you need something?”

Mia stares at him. She widens the door crack so she can take half a step in. This movement reveals William behind her, who has a heartbreakingly hopeful expression on his face. “We heard Mom’s voice,” his daughter replies cautiously.

Well, there’s no point in hiding it now. He lifts his leg and pulls it back out, unmuting Felicity, who has raised her eyebrows unimpressedly. She’s no longer holding baby Mia; she must have put her back down in her crib. “You have two people here excited to see you,” Oliver tells her. Then he turns the screen around so that Mia and William can see their mother, and Felicity can see her adult kids from the future.

Mia immediately looks like she’s watching the sun rise for the first time. It’s the happiest that Oliver thinks that he has and probably will ever see her. She rushes forward to snatch the cell phone from her father’s hands. “Mom!”

“Oh frack,” is Felicity’s astounded response. “This… this is insane. You’re Mia. As in, big Mia. Meaning you’re the adult version of the baby I’m about to change the diaper of, from the future. Um. Hi.” When she catches sight of William leaning over his sister’s shoulder, she _chokes_. “Oh my god. Hi, William.”

“Hi, Mom,” William chuckles. “Sorry you weren’t told instantly about all this. We had no idea what was going on and didn’t think it was a good idea at the time to rope you in, when you’re dealing with looking after the baby version of this one -” He prods Mia’s cheek, making her scowl half-heartedly at him - “- at the moment.”

Oliver can’t properly see the screen, but he spots the way Felicity’s jaw drops slightly and she blinks incredulously at hearing William call her ‘Mom’ for the first time. “I wish I was there with you all so I could hug you. Wow, it’s so different actually talking to you through videocall rather than spying using the bunker cams,” she says, her voice trembling.

Mia snorts at her comment about spying, mirth twinking in her eyes. “Only you, Mom,” she replies fondly. She brightens. “Maybe we can come see you!”

Oliver’s heart drops. While he aches to see Felicity and baby Mia again… he knows that having to say repetitive goodbyes to them, not knowing which one might be their last, will strain him in such a way that he might not be able to continue with his multiverse-saving mission. Thankfully, he doesn’t have to shoot Mia’s idea down, because her mother replies apologetically that they probably shouldn’t, since they have no idea what two versions of Mia from the same timeline might do to their universe.

“Feel free to call me, though, any time,” Felicity insists. “And I will be keeping an eye on the three of you from here at the cabin to make sure you don’t get yourselves into too much trouble.”

“Us, trouble?” William waves his hand. “Nah, you’ve got the wrong kids.”

“Sure, Mr I-got-expelled-from-school,” Felicity teases him.

Mia whips around to face her brother, shocked. “You got kicked out of school!?”

“Mom, why’d you have to tell her that?” William groans.

“Oh, you are _never_ living this down,” Mia promises.

William crosses his arms over his chest defensively. “It wasn’t even my fault!”

“He’s right, it wasn’t,” Felicity rolls her eyes. “The principal’s asshole son had it out for him because Will was smarter and kept beating him at tests. He went and presented his father with photos that were taken without consent and the principal’s stupidly old-fashioned values weighted over his logic and empathy. Your brother was expelled for totally illegitimate reasons, Mia.”

Oliver is bewildered to see that William has frozen at her words. He reaches forward and takes his dad’s cell phone from his sister, sitting down on the bed’s edge. “You know the real reason I was expelled, don’t you?” he asks, sounding dejected and, to Oliver’s horror, humiliated. “Dad wasn’t kidding when he told me that you and he already knew.”

Oh. _Oh._

Oliver backs off. This is a conversation for William and Felicity to have by themselves. The look Mia casts his way indicates that she knows what it’s about as well.

“That’s how I found out. Your dad already knew at that point,” Felicity responds kindly. “We weren’t going to push you to come out to us, Will; we wanted you to tell us yourself, when you were comfortable.”

“I appreciate that,” William murmurs.

Felicity’s voice lightens. “So, since it’s been twenty years, is there anybody in your life I should know about?”

“Ha, no. I’m perpetually bad at maintaining relationships.” William’s eyes flick up to his sister and he smirks. “Mia, though…”

“Shut up, you jerk,” she hits him in the shoulder. “It’s not like that and you know it.”

This is new information for Oliver. He resists the urge to turn interrogator and instead questions in as casual a voice as he can manage, “You have a boyfriend? Girlfriend?”

“Boyfriend,” William answers, before Mia can cut in and stop him. “They have a ‘complicated history’ -”

“No, we are not having this conversation,” Mia raises a finger at him and then at Oliver warningly. “I refuse to talk about my sex life with my parents when in this time, I’m a baby.”

“Yeah, she’s right, that’s going to do funny things to my brain,” Felicity comments. An ear-splitting cry from her side of the line makes them all startle. The cry turns into wailing. “That is little miss Mia informing me that she is hungry. She hasn’t kept down any milk today so let’s hope it takes this time.” She hoists the baby into her arms, resting her on her chest. Mia - adult Mia - stops breathing for a few seconds at the sight of her infant self. Felicity pauses, her expression transforming into one of sadness. “That means I have to go. I’m so sorry. It could take an hour to get her fed and then I’ll have to bath her later, and then maybe she’ll finally sleep -”

“Felicity,” Oliver interrupts her gently, taking the phone back from William. Their two kids lean on his shoulders so they can appear behind him on screen. He sends her a reassuring smile. “It’s fine. We’ll call you tomorrow, how about that? I swear, we’ll try and keep you as updated as possible.”

Felicity looks conflicted. Oliver understands the feeling. Ending this videocall is going to be like a sucker-punch in the gut for him. “... Fine. But seriously, Oliver, I need to be kept in the loop, for the sake of my own sanity. You look after our kids, you hear me? And Mia, William, I’m not there in the city so you need to take care of your father for me.”

“We will, Mom,” Mia nods solemnly. “I’ll shoot anybody who tries to hurt him.”

And what’s scary is that Oliver completely believes her.

Tightening his grip around the phone, he whispers, “I love you so much.”

Felicity bites her lip and reaches out to press her fingers against the screen. In her arms, Mia releases a squeal, patting her mother’s face. “I love you too. Bigger than the freakin’ universe, yeah?”

“Yeah,” he smiles, tears brimming again.

Oliver can’t bring himself to end the call. He’s relieved but also shattered when Felicity is the one to do it. He drops his phone on the bed so he can take a seat and rest his head in his hands, taking deep, shaky breaths as he tries to hold back his sobs.

A tender hand rests on his shoulder. For a second, he thinks it’s William’s, but then realizes it’s too small to be his. “Thank you for letting us talk to Mom,” Mia says softly.

Forcing himself to inhale to full lung capacity and then exhale forcefully, Oliver stands, taking a hold of his daughter’s hand so he can squeeze it. Mia doesn’t recoil at his touch and instead, squeezes his fingers back gratefully. William claps a hand on his shoulder to offer his own support. That was a tough conversation for him and Oliver itches to call Felicity back just so he knows it wasn’t a dream, but he knows she’ll be waist-deep dealing with a crying infant and won’t be able to answer right now.

He wants to be back at the cabin with his wife and baby girl so badly. But right here, right now, another part of his family is present. His son and daughter from the future. He’s not alone; he has Mia and William. “C’mon, you two, if you’ve finished your Monte Cristos, I’ll make you mug brownies,” Oliver smiles weakly, pocketing his phone. “And then it’s bedtime for all of us… you two look exhausted.”

“Overwatch-ing is a lot more tiring than it appears,” William nods. “Can we have pancakes for breakfast tomorrow?”

Mia wrinkles her nose. “I promised Connor I’d spar with him in the morning at the bunker, so I need protein for breakfast, not junk.”

“You’ll get turkey bacon and eggs, and you’ll get pancakes,” Oliver tells his kids, each in turn, already feeling lighter. “One of your mom’s favorite breakfasts when she was pregnant with you, Mia, was pancakes with bacon, cinnamon and maple syrup.”

“That sounds gross,” William laughs.

“What can I say, your sister made her have weird cravings.”

William starts teasing Mia again - and she teases him back - and Oliver watches them with a throbbing heart as they head back into the kitchen. For the longest time, since leaving Felicity and his baby girl behind, he’s felt like there was a part of his soul carved out of him, scarred over and twinging with pain whenever he looks at that photo he has of them, taken on Mia’s one week birthday.

With his son and daughter from the future here with him, ready to stand and fight by his side no matter what happens… Oliver feels like he’s gained a little part of that missing soul back again.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading, i hope you enjoyed!! please leave kudos and i would really appreciate a comment
> 
> tumblr: @alexiablackbriar13  
twitter: @lexiblackbriar


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